I cleared my throat and said, “Good morning. Thank you for breakfast.”
“We would have taken you out, but you slept too late,” Gideon said. “We got hungry.”
“But we can go out for lunch,” Gage said.
I looked from one shiny, muscular chest to another, appreciating the similarities and the differences. Garret had a bit of hair sprinkled at the top of his chest, and so did Gideon, butGid's was blond and harder to see. Gage, however, was smooth. Absolutely smooth.
I swallowed past the dryness in my throat and concentrated. What had he said? Right. Lunch. “I thought you wanted to keep me here for the time being?”
“We don't want you cooped up,” Garret said. “As long as we're with you, it will be all right. Michael couldn't even possess you with us near.”
That broke through my lust. “Hold on. What? Michael couldpossessme?”
“Well, yes,” Gideon said. “He can jump bodies, remember? But we're protected by Hades.” He tapped a tattoo on his upper left arm that I hadn't noticed amid all the muscles. It was an odd sort of weapon. Kind of looked like a trident, but with two prongs instead of three, and a short handle. “That protection extends about a foot around us. So, as long as you stay close, Michael can't get you.”
“You . . . is that some sort of sigil?” I waved at the tattoo.
“It's the Mark of Hades,” Garret said and turned to show me an identical tattoo on his back. Well, nearly identical. His tattoo was on his left shoulder and the shaft was longer than Gage's, going down to his waist. It clarified that it was a type of spear, not a dagger.
“I'm not showing you mine yet.” Gideon winked at me.
“It's our link to Hades,” Gage said.
“It protects you from possession?”
“Among other things,” Gideon said. “And it will protect you as well. Even more so if you become our mate.”
“Gid, not yet,” Garret said.
“I'd like to know what I'm getting into. You know, in case I can get . . . into . . . it.” I grimaced. “I don't know what I'm saying.” Grabbing my plate and coffee, I went back to the island to finish eating. “And yes, I'd like to go out for lunch later.”
“Great.” Garret pulled up a stool next to mine and hung his towel around his neck.
Meanwhile, Gage and Gideon went to the fridge and pulled out some bottles of Gatorade. Gideon tossed one to Garret.
“Thanks,” Garret said. Then he looked at me. “What do you want to know?”
“Everything.” I shrugged. “What would being your mate mean? What would it entail?”
“Entail?” Garret grinned. “Are you trying to ask what the sex will be like?”
“Yes and no. Yes, I think I need to know what kind of sexual relationship we'd have so I can prepare myself for the possibility, but also, what else? How do three men share one woman?”
Gage snorted. “Good question.”
“You don't know?” I asked.
“We can only go by what we've seen and heard,” Gideon said as he twisted off the cap of his bottle. “Dominic, from the Spokane Cerberus was the one who called us to ask us to watchover you. While we were talking, I asked him about his mate, and he said it was wonderful. They're all thrilled.”
“They're happy sharing her?” I asked. “Really?”
“You have to understand our bond,” Garret said.
“You said you can feel each other's emotions.”
“Yes, and that makes us closer than brothers.”
“We're three individuals, but we're also parts of one whole,” Gage said. “Hades made us to become one entity if necessary.”
